There are various known methods for attracting antler-bearing animals by reproducing or simulating the sound of two deer sparring. In sparring, antler-bearing animals fight with their antlers and foreheads to determine which buck earns the right to the herd and access to reproduction. The sound of antlers rattling can be performed manually by holding an antler in one hand and clashing or lightly striking it into another antler held in the other hand. While actual antlers may be used, numerous varieties of synthetic antlers have been suggested.
Examples of devices used to call antler-bearing animals include U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,928 (the '928 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,641 (the '641 patent), which disclose the use of synthetic antlers. The '928 patent provides that, it was noted that hunters will use actual antlers, normally white and weathered from long exposure to the elements, and/or synthetic antlers to attract deer, elk and the like. However, the '928 patent further noted that it is difficult to reproduce the sound of animal antlers utilizing synthetic materials or the actual antlers. In the '641 patent, it was noted that “hunters have known for some time that when deer or elk are in the mating season, bucks take part in a ritual wherein they butt or clash their antlers together.” As a result of this ritual, sounds are created which attract other deer or elk, including both bucks and does, to the scene. Hunters have attempted to take advantage of this phenomena by using antlers from previous prizes to simulate the sound of this ritual. The common practice is to cut the horns from the prize, and to clean and sand the horns. The horns are then raked and clashed with one another in order to produce a sound which imitates bucks fighting in the mating ritual.
Hunters have had considerable success with these techniques. However, deer or elk antlers have certain disadvantages when used by man to attract animals. The antlers tend to lose their “live” sound over time. To overcome this, hunters will treat or tune the antlers in an attempt to regain the original sound. Such efforts may involve soaking the antlers in water every two or three days or treating the antlers with linseed oil to keep them from becoming chalky. In addition, the severed antlers do not exhibit stability during varying weather conditions and may produce ineffective sounds depending on the weather.
Another commonly used means of simulating the sound of antlers rattling is to place a number of wooden rods in a cloth bag and to strike the bag against an object to cause the clacking sound of antlers rattling. The latter, use of a rattle bag or rattle sack, is growing in popularity; however, merely placing a set of wooden rods in a cloth bag does not provide a realistic acoustic simulation of the sound of animals “rattling” their antlers together. Furthermore, such a design is hard to control when the hunter is moving from location to location, and could therefore generate noise at an undesired time that could spook the animal, thereby defeating the purpose of the product.